How to build a DIY replica of Galileo's telescope

A DIY version of Galileo's telescope

With a coat of gold spray paint and a fancy tripod, you won't even notice that this DIY telescope is made of a PVC pipe and cheap glass lenses.Photograph by Ted Cavanaugh

Galileo Galilei was a ground-breaking astronomer who discovered, among other things, several of Jupiter's moons. To explore the skies, he relied on a telescopes that magnified objects with simple glass lenses. Although they were incredibly advanced at the time, modern telescopes have long since surpassed them. In fact, his instruments were simple enough for an amateur astronomer to build with a PVC pipe and two inexpensive glass lenses.